Information about aspects of gender ideology: FOI release

Information requested

You raised concerns about aspects of gender ideology and asked the following.

1. Please outline the framework Education Scotland has used to assess how schools have delivered the curriculum regarding LGBTQ+ issues.
2. Please provide information explaining how Education Scotland has determined which schools have been viewed as worthy of a high rating regarding curricular support of LGBTQ+ issues?
3. Please provide information outlining how Education Scotland ensures that all Scottish schools provide a curricular balance of views, beliefs and facts regarding LGBTQ+ issues.
4. Please provide data relevant to all of the above including numbers of schools with high LGBTQ+ ratings and high wellbeing ratings.

Response

1. Please outline the framework Education Scotland has used to assess how schools have delivered the curriculum regarding LGBTQ+ issues.

HM Inspectors of Education use the quality framework ‘How good is our school?’ (4th edition) (2015) to evaluate the quality of education in Scottish schools. HM Inspectors use a selection of Quality Indicators (QI) from this framework when inspecting schools. One of the QIs that HM Inspectors evaluate is QI 2.2 Curriculum. As part of this evaluation, HM Inspectors look at how the school is delivering health and wellbeing within the curriculum, which may include LGBTQ+ issues.

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. However, for ease I attach a link to the inspection framework document – How good is our school? (4th Edition)(2015).
https://education.gov.scot/media/2swjmnbs/frwk2_hgios4.pdf

2. Please provide information explaining how Education Scotland has determined which schools have been viewed as worthy of a high rating regarding curricular support of LGBTQ+ issues?

Under the current approaches to inspection of schools, HM Inspectors of Education will evaluate QI 2.1 which is the school’s delivery of the curriculum, which may include LGBTQ+ issues. They do not provide a grade for this particular QI.

3. Please provide information outlining how Education Scotland ensures that all Scottish schools provide a curricular balance of views, beliefs and facts regarding LGBTQ+ issues.

Education Scotland works in partnership with the Scottish Government and stakeholders on the national LGBT Inclusive Education Implementation Group. The Scottish Government funds Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) to support delivery of the national implementation of LGBT inclusive education through the online platform lgbteducation.scot. These professional learning modules and resources have been developed to provide a curricular balance of views, beliefs and facts in line with the Equality Act 2010, the Public Sector Equality Duty, the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and human rights.

4. Please provide data relevant to all of the above including numbers of schools with high LGBTQ+ ratings and high wellbeing ratings.

HM Inspectors of Education do not grade schools on a criteria of LGBTQ+ ratings.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Education Scotland does not have the information you have requested on the number of schools with high LGBTQ+ ratings.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Education Scotland does not have the information you have requested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.